Red Lights
Synopsis: During a car trip a married couple fight over the man's drinking problem. When he stops at a bar to get another drink, his wife leaves him and takes the train instead.
Technical Details
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Review
In this promising but ultimately disappointing French thriller married couple Antoine and Hélène set off on a long car trip to pick up their children from summer camp, and their differences emerge as they move through traffic. While Antoine resents his wife for being more successful than him, she can’t tolerate the man’s drinking habits. The fighting increases Antoine’s need for alcohol, so he starts making stops on roadside bars. After one of this stops Antoine returns to the car to find that Hélène is gone, and a note tells him that she has decided to take the train instead. After some more drinks a now very drunk Antoine resumes the trip with a suspicious looking hitchhiker as company.
Red Lights is a slow paced psychological thriller that builds tension as Antoine gets deeper and deeper into a drunken state. There are several plot details that could have made for a very interesting film, like the disappearance of Hélène, or the strange hitchhiker that shows up right after the announcement on the radio that a killer is on the lose. In spite of very good performances, the conclusion of the film lacks dramatic intensity, the viewer is left wanting to have a more detailed account of what happened.
©2008 by Miguel Grinberg
Excellent
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Stinker
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